First Take

Sorry for the lack of information last week... many distractions, including (wait for it)...

I GOT ENGAGED!!!

Anywho, back to landscape architecture. I finished my conceptual plans last week and worked on the support drawings this week. Monday I will give my midterm presentation for the semester. This will include the process documents and three conceptual plans with drawings.

>Concept Plans & Drawings<

Again, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them. I strongly encourage it...

Now for the fun part...

First, check out this link for more info about landscape architecture...

>What is Landscape Architecture?<

Now that process documents have been submitted and returned, it is time to move to design.   This process (different for everyone, but the same at the core) begins with functional plans and conceptual designs.

Functional plans are very loose, fast sketches or diagrams that are used to quickly determine the best layout for elements on a site. Usually, I set out with a general idea of what I want on the site and how big it should be. Then, I overlay trash paper (tracing paper) on base survey for the site and draw multiple, distinctly different plans as fast as I can. From these I can pick and choose aspects that I like from each and compile them into one. For this project, I am required to create three conceptual plans, so I will have three functional plans to base them off of.

Conceptual plans are more refined and start to introduce form to the the design. Will the design be rectilinear or curvilinear? This is where questions like this begin to be raised. I will also start to layout designs for building shapes, courtyards, open space, etc.. Conceptual plans should still be fairly quick to prevent getting locked into one design.

This week was focused on creating functional plans. It has been pretty hard to stay focused on work due to the excitement about New Orleans this weekend. Next week will be devoted to creating the three conceptual plans which are due on Friday. Always working down to the wire...

Functional plan, sketches, & a messy desk...

6' of Functional Plans

Keep an eye out for another post on Monday night... Happy Mardi Gras followers!

Process Document Submittal

After a few weeks of work, sleepless nights, & extreme frustration with a concept, I am finished with the process documents for my capstone project. This includes precedent research, inventory, analysis, program for development, and concept statement. Take a look and leave any feedback or questions you have in the comments section.

>Overton Square: Process Documents<

The link posted above is to the file in my DropBox account. All you need to do is click the link to open the PDF file. For faster navigation through the document, save the PDF to your computer. By the way, DropBox is an awesome way to share larger documents that can't be emailed.